Bean-burger-flipping season has arrived

I’ve had what you might call vegetarian instincts my whole life, although there have been long periods when I wasn’t a vegetarian. About four years ago, I gradually stopped eating meat, but I still resisted the label for a long time, because I think it puts people’s backs up and I find most of conversations about it with diehard carnivores to be tedious. But after a while, there’s no way to avoid using the word — there’s no other way to explain why you’re not eating the main dish at a dinner party.

It’s interesting to compare my last period of official vegetarianism, which lasted from about 1990 to 1994, with this time. There are far fewer of the tedious conversations now (although the backlash is still there.) And, of course, the grocery-store options for vegetarians are much, much better than they used to be; I don’t think I even knew what tempeh was in 1990. The other day, I bought a book on how to make my own.

I’ve always tended toward the philosophy espoused in the classic cookbook The Gradual Vegetarian, or, more recently, in books written by people like Michael Pollan, who espouse common sense and a return to moderation and real food. Not everyone has to embrace the veggie lifestyle. I’m the kind of person who loves loading up a tray at the Green Door, but if you feel more comfortable at the Keg, that’s fine. But one of the effects of the mainstreaming of environmental awareness is that more people (in Ottawa, anyway) seem to be moving toward a diet of less meat, in a conscious effort to buck the global trend. Even if you have no desire to ever wear the “vegetarian” label, you might want to have a meatless meal now and again. Vegetarianism isn’t, for me at least, about self-denial. Cooking became way more interesting and fun (not to mention far less gross) once I stopped organizing meals using a meat-and-two-veg template.

So, in that spirit, and to ring in barbecue season, I offer some of my favourite vegetarian items for the grill:

Marinated smoked tofu on a cedar plank (jerk marinades work nicely)

Marinated tempeh, cubed or grilled like a steak

Veggie kebabs, with or without tofu

Marinated veggies

Corn on the cob (I leave them in the husks, soaked well in water to keep them from catching fire)

Potatoes, chopped, cooked in a grill basket with mushrooms and onions

Bean burgers

Bruschetta, brushed with garlic and olive oil

Of course, grilling itself is something we should all do in moderation.

If you want to learn more about vegetarian cooking, check out Ottawa’s first annual Veg Fest, on May 31. There’s a website and a Facebook page. The chef and owner of Zen Kitchen, which is getting a lot of buzz and even a nice blog post from my very carnivorous colleague Ron Eade, will be on hand to demonstrate techniques.

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